It rained in the evening in H city. Meng Ting returned home and found Shu Yang sitting on the sofa watching a ball game.

  "How about Shulan?"

  Shu Yang turned back, a hint of surprise appeared on his cold face. In fact, he had also discovered recently that Meng Ting's attitude towards Shu Lan had undergone a subtle change. Previously, she was very good to Shu Lan and even called her "Little Lan" along with their father, but lately, Meng Ting kept her distance from Shu Lan, as if she were a stranger.

  "In the room."

  Meng Ting pursed her lips, she didn't go find Shu Lan first, but instead went back to her own room and took out the trunk.

  As soon as she opened it, she found that the box had been rummaged through.

  The ballet skirt was crumpled up, and the small gold medal was gone. Meng Ting moved away the wrinkled skirt, and the white feathered long dress was also nowhere to be seen.

  Shulan really has good eyesight.

  The white feathered long dress in her trunk is the most precious.

  That's the skirt mom spent half a year making. Zeng Yujie is good-looking but has a humble background, born in a small village. Meng Ting's grandparents taught school in that small village, and when Zeng Yujie was young, she fell in love with the wrong person.

  She did not accept the blind date arranged by her family and eloped with a man from another place.

  Zeng Yujie didn't have a good life after leaving her hometown. She worked as a female worker in a textile factory. Later, the man abandoned her when she was pregnant with Meng Ting. She was a strong woman and never thought of committing suicide, but instead focused on raising her daughter well.

  Meng Ting made this skirt by herself when she was ten years old.

  Zeng Yujie was skilled with her hands, and in that era, many rich ladies took pride in wearing the clothes she made. Later on, she stopped making clothes, just as she told Meng, she didn't love that man anymore.

  Zeng Yujie's last piece of clothing was this white feathered cheongsam.

  She poured out all her love as a mother, embroidering the colorful feathers one by one, and with every movement of the white skirt, it was full of flowing beauty.

  That's a skirt with a strong national style.

  Even in modern times, it is still very valuable and beautiful.

  Zeng Yujie cherished Meng Ting, her daughter was an angel sent by heaven, and she made a skirt for her to wear when she grew up. It was originally intended as a gift for Meng Ting's coming of age, but after Zeng Yujie passed away, Meng Ting pressed it to the bottom of the trunk, until the fire last time.

  Not only was this skirt burned, but Meng Ting's face was also ruined.

  Meng Ting closed the trunk and got up to knock on Shu Lan's door.

  Shulan opened the door and saw it was her, somewhat uncomfortably shifting her gaze: "Sister."

  "My skirt and gold medal."

  Shulan widened her eyes: "Sister, how can you wrong me like this? Although you are my sister, if you continue like this, I will get angry."

  Meng Ting looked at her.

  The girl in front of me is seventeen years old, and she is as old as I am, only one month younger than me.

  Meng Ting had been good to her for a lifetime, doing his best to protect her. If it weren't for saving Shu Lan, she wouldn't have disfigured herself in her previous life. Shu Lan was very good at flattering people, and the year Meng Ting lost his mother, Shu's father was tongue-tied and didn't know how to comfort her. As for Shu Yang, there was no need to mention it, only Shu Lan called out sweetly "older sister".

  She said: "We will always be sisters."

  Meng Ting never got a clear look at her, but treated her well for the rest of his life.

  But she would never again interfere with Shulan's life.

  Meng Ting's eyes sank calmly: "You like Jiang Ren, so you took my gold medal to curry favor with him."

  "Shulan angrily said: 'What are you talking nonsense!'"

  "But this skirt is a keepsake left by my mother, and the gold pendant also contains our last photo together. Giving you other things from before is fine, but you can't have those two."

  Shulan didn't expect Meng Liang, who was usually gentle in nature, to be so serious this time.

  She also came up in anger, and frankly admitted: "What's wrong with me attending someone else's birthday party and borrowing your skirt? If I had a good-looking skirt, would I look at your things? It's because of your eyes that our family is so poor... Dad's salary was not low to begin with, but it was used to pay off your debts!"

  Meng Ting clenched her fists tightly, and after a while, she slowly let out a breath.

  Shulan.

  Shulan looked at her, feeling inexplicably uneasy in her heart. Meng Ting was still the gentle and clean Meng Ting, but something about her had changed.

  "I still remember what I owe Dad. But I don't owe you anything. Almost everything I had in the past, I've given to you."

  Meng Ting learned to play the piano, and Shu Lan also wanted to learn. However, she was not talented and only studied for two years, learning just a little bit of basics. Meng Ting knew that their family's financial situation was difficult, so he never went back to studying piano again. At that time, his mother was still alive, but the family could only afford for one child to study.

  Meng Ting is good at dancing, many kinds of dances.

  Shulan also made a fuss about learning, Meng Ting gave up following the teacher to study and instead practiced on her own.

  However, Shulan was still not making progress. Her body was not flexible and she couldn't bear the pain of stretching, so after a month of training, she gave up by herself.

  Meng said: "If you can't return my things, I'll go find Jiang Ren myself."

  Shulan has never seen such a Meng Ting before.

  She was about to get furious: "You go and ask for it, you go and ask me and I'll tell Dad. How did you make his own daughter unhappy?" Shulan said and then closed the door. Anyway, the gold medal is not coming back, she actually didn't know that there was another photo behind it, at that time the class was passing it around, this Tuesday was He Junming's birthday, those people were a mess, but they were all rich second-generation kids, Shulan also wanted to be invited.

  Then she threw down the gold medal Meng Ting had from upstairs.

  He Junming indeed remembered her.

  Shulan's face turned red as she said that was a prize for her dance performance. He Junming picked it up and saw the photo that had fallen out.

  He was stunned for several seconds, then whistled and asked Shulan about the person in the photo: "Who is she?"

  Shulan's face suddenly turned pale, and she could only force a smile: "A small star I liked a few years ago has long since retired from the circle."

  He Junming was a bit disappointed: "It's quite pretty, give it to me. Come and play with me tomorrow night."

  Shulan's eyes lit up and she immediately agreed.

  That skirt is also beautiful, not only beautiful, but also special.

  What's wrong with letting her wear it anyway?

  Shulan's whole body was excited as soon as she thought of other people's eyes at He Junming's birthday party tomorrow. If Jiang Ren had an interest in her...

  She didn't believe that Meng Ting would really go, after all, Meng Ting had been very well-behaved since childhood, almost without any thorns, only soft and obedient. If Dad might be heartbroken, Meng Ting absolutely wouldn't let the sisters not get along.

  ~

  The next day when Meng Ting went to school, Shu Lan still hadn't returned her things, so she knew she had to go get them herself.

  She will no longer unconditionally yield to Shulan.

  The photo is also a keepsake of Mother's, and it can't be treated as something for He Junming and the others to play with and make fun of.

  It was already 5:30 when school let out at No. 7 Middle School.

  Meng Ting packed up her school bag and said to Zhao Nuan: "You go home first."

  "How about you?"

  "I have something on."

  Zhao Nuan didn't care: "Alright then, see you tomorrow and listen."

  "See you tomorrow."

  Meng Ting originally thought that the two schools had the same dismissal time. When she really wanted to take back her skirt, Shu Lan would definitely not have time to change into it. Shu Lan wouldn't return it to her at home, but was afraid of making a big scene at school, so naturally she wouldn't insist on wearing that skirt again.

  However, when she arrived at Shulan's classroom, the girl in the front row holding a small mirror looked at her curiously: "Shulan, she left early. Today is He Junming's birthday from Class 12, she didn't attend Old Zhang's class and went directly."

  Meng Ting furrowed her brow, she hadn't expected that this group of people had all skipped class: "Thank you, do you know where He Junming's birthday party is?"

  The girl thought Meng's voice was soft and pleasant to listen to, so she also told her: "It's from An Haiting's side."

  Meng Ting felt somewhat embarrassed.

  But thinking of Shulan's character, the skirt might be damaged, she finally took the bus to Anhaiting.

  She knows An Haiting.

  This is the most expensive area in the city, adjacent to the sea, with bars, internet cafes and KTV.

  Those were all properties of Jiang Jiajun's Yangguang Group.

  The time when school is dismissed coincides with rush hour.

  Meng got off the bus, and the sky had darkened a bit.

  Winter nights fall early, and at this moment it's already a sea of ink.

  Meng Ting walked into the gate of An Hai Ting, and at the front desk were a man and a woman with very good attitudes: "May I ask who you are?"

  At that time, Meng Ting was still wearing the school uniform of No. 7 Middle School, ordinary board shoes, hair tied in a ponytail, and a pair of ink-colored glasses on his nose bridge, which was really incongruous.

  Meng Ting looked somewhat uneasy: "Can I see my sister?"

  The woman at the front desk smiled: "Classmate, you can't go up without an invitation."

  Meng Ting was stunned, and the singing voice from upstairs was unknown to anyone, it could be described as a mournful cry. She knew that this gathering was very lively, in such a situation Shu Lan would not cause trouble, or else she wouldn't be Shu Lan.

  Meng Ting didn't go to comfort her afterwards, her skirt couldn't be ruined.

  "I'm also... " She rarely lied, her cheeks were completely red, "A friend of He Junming. I'm late."

  The woman at the front desk smiled: "Little sister, it's not right to lie."

  Her eyes glanced at Meng Ting's glasses, and the male receptionist also had a somewhat disdainful expression.

  Bai Ming thought Meng Ting was deceiving him.

  Meng Ting knows why.

  Jiang Ren and her friends are all rich or of high social status. He Junming likes people with high face value, he wouldn't have a friend as "poor" as her.

  Meng listened for a long time, hesitated, and then lifted his hand to take off his glasses.

  The two receptionists across from each other fell silent for an instant.